"On Friday, Llama will destroy the world."--Page [4] of cover.

Deep in space lies the black hole known as Angelmass, so called because it emits enigmatic particles with the unusual ability to render humans calm, reasonable, and incapable of lying-which would normally be seen as a good thing. But not by everyone. For while Empyrean human colonies on the edge of the galaxy utilize the power of the "angels," the Earth-based Pax empire views the emissions as a threat that could be used to subvert humanity. Academic...

"Something is coming from deep space. Big enough to destroy the entire solar system. And it's heading straight for Earth. That's what Dr. Ben Rollins, head of Harvard's exoplanet research team, is told after being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night. His first instinct is to call his daughter, Jessica, who's vacationing in Italy with his wife: Something is coming, he tells them, a hundred times the mass of the sun. We can't see it, we don't...

In a future dominated by a superior race of artificial minds, the last humans, in an attempt to save themselves from total extinction, flee across the barren wastes of a once-lush planet.

"Special Forces are used to crazy ops, but orbiting a black hole to slow down time and fight Earth's dirty battles in the future? That's new, even for them. But that's the mission for Owen Quarry, Anaya Pretorius, and the rest of COG, a company of elite, disgraced, soldiers from around the globe. They join a defrocked company commander, an AI warship with self-confidence issues, and a crew of misfit troupers on a dizzying time-quest: prove the concept...